3 of Texas' Top 10 Most Wanted Captured

In an eight-day span in 2023, three of Texas’ most sought-after fugitives were arrested. Read on for more details about where these criminals were taken into custody and why they were wanted.

Kentrell Lamar Fletcher

Fletcher, 35, affiliated with the Gangster Disciples gang, had been pursued by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles since November 2022, when the board issued a warrant for his arrest due to a parole violation related to his original offense of aggravated assault. A coalition of law enforcement agencies, including the United States Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and Texas Department of Public Safety special agents, arrested him in Killeen on May 25, 2023. Fletcher’s criminal history includes a 2008 conviction for burglary of a habitation, resulting in a three-year sentence in a Texas prison. In 2010, he was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and received a 15-year prison sentence. He was granted parole in September 2020.

Nehemiah Khalil Hicks

Members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force arrested Hicks, 24, in Dallas on May 22, 2023. Authorities had been looking for Hicks, affiliated with the Fly Money Gang, since July 2022, when the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office issued several warrants, including charges for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of assaulting a family or household member with prior convictions, and assault causing bodily injury. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office also issued a warrant for Hicks’ arrest early in 2023 on charges related to assaulting a family or household member with prior convictions. A number of law-enforcement agencies, including Texas Highway Patrol, Grand Prairie Police Department, and Mansfield Police Department, assisted in the investigation.

David Earl Thomas

The Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office apprehended Thomas, 62, in Lubbock on May 17. Classified as a high-risk sex offender, Thomas was convicted of two counts of burglarizing a habitation during the 1980s with the intent to commit sexual abuse, involving incidents with two girls, ages 15 and 11. In the early 1990s, Thomas was convicted of theft and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Then in 2002, Thomas was convicted of robbery and served a five-year confinement. He was released from a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison in 2017.

The Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for Thomas’ arrest in March 2023, when he failed to register as a sex offender. A Crime Stoppers award was paid in his recent arrest.

Texas Crime Stoppers

Texas Crime Stoppers, which the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division funds, offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of Texas’ 10 Most Wanted Fugitives or Sex Offenders.

To be eligible for cash rewards, tipsters MUST provide information to authorities using one of the following three methods:

• Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477)
• Submit a web tip through the DPS website
• Submit a Facebook tip by clicking the “SUBMIT A TIP” link (under the “About” section)

All tips are anonymous - regardless of how they are submitted - and tipsters will be provided a tip number instead of using a name.

Department of Public Safety investigators work with local law enforcement agencies to select fugitives for the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives and Sex Offenders Lists. All current lists, including photos, can be found on the DPS website.

Do not attempt to apprehend any fugitives; they are considered armed and dangerous.

References: Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives Captured in Lubbock, Dallas and Killeen | 3 of Texas’ Most Wanted Arrested